Tuesday, April 22, 2008

LOST - "The Shape Of Things To Come"

Episode Title: The Shape of Things To Come

Jason's Deeper Meaning Guess: Generally the term "The Shape of Things to Come" is used in literary references to foreshadow the general path that a story will take. However we stand at a point in the story where we know generally what is going to happen already. It's a precarious spot to be because we tend to get lulled into a sense of security when we think we know what will happen.

This week's episode is going to have to be used to explain a lot of things and how they wind up.

1.) We will most likely find out who attacked CFL, Alex, and Karl
2.) There has to be a conclusion to the barracks story and something that explains Hurley switching sides and getting into the Oceanic 6
3.) Lastly I believe that we will learn somethings about the nature of the Island from good old Ben.

Like our good friend Brian I started my research by googling the title. This is what I found.

The Shape of Things to Come is a work of science fiction by H. G. Wells, published in 1933, which speculates on future events from 1933 until the year 2106. It is not a novel, but rather a fictional history book or chronicle
.
Wells' book also shared an understanding of the change wrought in the nature of war by the development of air power; the writer included harrowing depictions of cities destroyed in aerial bombardments, which proved an all too accurate prediciton of what was to happen in the actual second World War.

Wells creates a framing device by claiming that the book is his edited version of notes written by an eminent diplomat, Dr Philip Raven, who had been having dream visions of a history textbook published in 2106, and wrote down what he could remember of it.

The book is dominated by Wells's belief in a world state as the solution to mankind's problems. Wells successfully predicted the Second World War, although he envisaged it dragging on into the 1960s, being finally ended only by a devastating plague that almost destroys civilisation. Wells then envisages a benevolent dictatorship - 'The Dictatorship of the Air' (a term obviously modeled on 'The Dictatorship of the proletariat') - arising from the controllers of the world's surviving transportation systems (the only people with global power). This dictatorship promotes science, enforces Basic English as a global lingua franca, and eradicates all religion, setting the world on the route to a peaceful utopia. When the dictatorship finds it necessary to kill political opponents, the condemned persons are given a chance to emulate the ancient philosophers Socrates and Seneca and take a poison tablet in a congenial environment of their choice.

Eventually, after a century of re-shaping humanity, the dictatorship is overthrown in a completely bloodless coup, the former rulers are sent into a very honourable retirement, and the world state "withers away" as was predicted by Marx. The last part of the book is a detailed description of the Utopian world which emerges

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Now I know that is a lot to take in but doesn't it sound alot like our little magical Island? Where Dictator Ben has been overthrown by Locke in a bloodless manner and thus ends his secret little utopia. Also we have seen multiple times where the followers of "The Island" have been willing to sacrifice themselves for "the Greater Good". The Island has even been described as a place where they are trying to save the world. The hatch was a huge example of that.

However the most interesting thing to me is that this book was not a history book of fiction but it was a book written from the memories of a man who jumped into the future and saw the end of the world, much like our friend Desmond. What if we find that Desmond was not the first person to become unstuck in time? That the Island was initially established because using it's special properties they might be able to stop the future.

Episode Description: Jack tries to discover the identity of a body that has washed ashore. Meanwhile, Locke's camp is attacked by Ben's adversaries.

Guest Stars:
Recurring Roles: Sam Anderson (Bernard Nadler), Kevin Durand (Keamy), Alan Dale (Charles Widmore), Jeff Fahey (Frank Lapidus), Tania Raymonde (Alex Rousseau)
Guest Star:
Faran Tahir (Ishmael Bakir), Kaveh Kardan (Merchant), Yetide Badaki (Desk Clerk), Marc Vann (Doctor), Sean Douglas Hoban (Doug)

We have a lot of guest stars this week, there are a lot of no names so The desk clerk, merchant, doctor, doug and Ishmael are probably the off island flashforward/back. Where Frank, Keamy, and Alex are probably in the story dealing with the barracks and Bernard is probably recruited to help Jack with the body since he has some medical experience.

Episode Breakdown:

Not a whole lot to go on from the synopsis, but we do have two points to discuss.

The Body: We can safely assume that the body must not be beyond some recognition or Jack wouldn't have any chance of finding out who it is so we can eliminate anyone who was on the plane most likely since 3-4 months in the salt water with fish eating them would have destroyed the indentity. Also we can remove anyone Jack does know from the list i.e. - Charlie and Patchy.
We can remove Regina since she is in chains on the bottom of the ocean.

I have a few thoughts but the best guess would that it is somebody from the freighter who is on the "Mission" with Frank. Maybe the person didn't survive the Time Bubble or whatever it is.

The Attack: The people attacking Locke's Camp are listed as Ben's Adversaries. This can only refer to the Freighters as we have all assumed. They must attack the Barracks to get Ben and maybe even Miles from Locke, and the only person who could have told them where to go was Frank because no one else on the boat knew that they were even at the Barracks except for Frank. Somehow I never pictured him leading a fullscale assault so I imagine he'll be a reluctant participant.

All in all not a lot of info to go on but I expect this episode to really be a driving force to the storyline, maybe even taking us all the way to them taking the Oceanic 6 off the Island.

What I find most promising about this episode is that it has been labeled as a Ben Flashforward too bad they don't give us anything to go on, haha.

Alright friends that's what I got for now. I hope you are as excited about this episode as I am. See you on Thursday. Enjoy.

-Jason

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice Preview!!!
Can't wait for Thursday. I am sure it will be a killer episode.

Anonymous said...

Good job Jason... very well written. I look forward to your initial reactions.

Anonymous said...

There sure seems to be a lot of traveling back and forth on the island, so why aren't there any encounters with the Smoke Monster? It was everywhere in the beginning and people were afraid to venture into the trees at all. It's not that way anymore. We haven't seen or heard from Smokey for quite awhile, and it should be all over the place making it's presence felt.

Alec said...

Official thread on the forums:

http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=297.0

Anonymous said...

short term/obvious questions:

who shot at (killed?) Alex's mom and boyfriend?
what body washes ashore?
do we learn how the oceanic 6 leave the island?
what happens on board the ship with Sayid giving up Michael?
what happens in Locke's camp and do the freightors capture Ben and/or Miles?

Anonymous said...

Just a thought maybe Alex, not Frank, tells them about the barracks.

Anonymous said...

I am sure the body is the woman who jumped off the boat?

Anonymous said...

The woman who jumped off the boat was wrapped in chains. There is no chance she's the body. That's why people use anchors they don't float haha.

Anonymous said...

The body is probably one of the two women who died in the Looking Glass with Charlie. Jack wouldn't recognize either of them.

Anonymous said...

Nah they died in a room where the only exit was to go down. Through the moon pool. However bodies float up.

TheycallmeVic said...

Commendable job by Jason taking over, but I do have to say I miss Brian's commentary.
Hope all is well with his house, wedding, honeymoon and all.

Mike said...

can't wait.

Anonymous said...

Great job Jason :)

Anonymous said...

what a first- this episode screened in Australia tonight---approx 10 hours BEFORE the USA - what a coup!

Anonymous said...

Actually, the body that they find washed up is a man, so it is probably someone from the freighter who wasn't wrapped in chains when they died. Perhaps one of the people Minkowski went on the mission to the island with?

HMM???

Anonymous said...

The body on the beach may be that of Jack Marshal, played by actor Ron Harper. Jack was accidentaly teleported to this strange land while in effort to find his estranged family members Marshal, Will, and Holly, who became lost during a routine expedition...

Anonymous said...

OMGSH!!!! HOLY SH&*!!!! Best darn episode ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

that maybe the most unbelievable thing i've ever seen on TV

Andrew Steger said...

seriously, that was freaking amazing! How do they continually blow my mind like that. Smoky was kick-arse.

Anonymous said...

INCREDIBLE

Anonymous said...

CRAZY.

The big question for me is... Ben and Charles W. had an 'agreement.' How extensive was this agreement? Does this imply that they've been in cahoots all along? Ben's acted so scared of him, but was that all an act? Nevertheless, any cooperation that may have once existed between them must be gone at this point considering what happened to Alex.

PS - Hi pierre.

Anonymous said...

As good as that episode was....a couple things towards the beginning really bugged me, or I found to be odd. First off....Claire is in a house and it EXPLODES....and she's just a little dizzy. Come on guys, really? Second, the whole Sawyer gun scene. Person by person kept walking out and getting shot one time and killed, which almost seemed comical by the third person. And, right after three shots, three kills, they can't hit Sawyer out in the open. After those moments though the episode got really good.

Anonymous said...

If you haven't read the Bad Twin by Gary Troup yet, it mighty be hard to see... but I have a feeling Charles and Ben are somehow brothers.

TheycallmeVic said...

Chris, my thoughts exactly!
I absolutely loved this episode, almost up there with The Constant (almost).

But that gunfight scene was just an insult to people's intelligence. I mean, Sawyer's over here pulling off a Rambo, running and dodging every bullet coming out of a machine gun, but yet it gets worse: he actually HIDES behind a wooden table, as if it's actually going to stop the bullets from those machine guns.

But the worst of all was the whole house blowing up (from an RPG, nonetheless) and yet Claire is barely touched...
I've never seen LOST mess up that bad.

But anyways, still loved the episode.

jess said...

i think that they purposely didnt shoot sawyer because ben said something about them killing all those people to get sawyer mad so he would throw ben to them... at least that's how i interpreted what he said

Anonymous said...

Guys remember, it may not be Sawyer's time to die, the island won't allow it ;) thats explains the crazy bullet dodging

Jason said...

Hi guys Jason here. Due to technical problems the instant thoughts will be posted in the morning I apologize profusely for the delay. I've spent the entire night with my sick daughter throwing up all over herself, me, and everything else. But how right you all are what a great episode. I'm floored.

-Jason

Anonymous said...

a w e s o m e !

I am always quick to give "poetic license" to LOST with various impluasible scenes....(ie; Sawyer not getting shot).

This episode raises the bar once again making LOST the most ambitious show on TV. Intrigue....suspense....mystery....love.....and light comedy to boot.

Questions:
-what did Ben do when he entered the "room"? It has been somewhat established that the room is some sort of staging area for Ben in his time/space travels. Did he time travel in the instance before SMOKEY was somehow summoned?

-Did Ben manipulate Sayid into joining forces with him? Did Ben himself arrange for Sayid's wife to be killed?

-What arrangement did Ben and Charles have? WTF is that about????

-Will Ben now add Penny's name to Sayid's list?

Anonymous said...

hey Jason....where r your priorities? A sick kid??? Commmon! You got "instant reactions" to write brother!

Anonymous said...

@Jason: don´t bother, your daughter should always come first, no matter how long it takes you to post!!!

@all: what an amazing episode! So great to have Smkey back in action, and what action we got from him/it!
I think the time Ben was gone in his super secret room, he was "calling" for Smokey, somehow using a "control device".

Do you feel sorry for Alex and CFL as I do, too?

Anonymous said...

If any of u were dieing for a summary. Lostpedia did a nice one, translating the bedouin's conversation, and gives some options as to what the new darma symbal might mean, and its relation to time travel...it also goes over the possible significance of the Moriarty reference.
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/The_Shape_of_Things_to_Come